Nickelodeon star Drake Bell pleads guilty to felony attempted child endangerment
Drake Bell, who was the star of Nickleodeon's Drake & Josh has pleaded appeared in court via Zoom on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to charges relating to a girl he met online
Drake Bell has pleaded guilty to charges relating to a girl who met him online and attended one of his concerts in Cleveland in 2017, when she was 15.
The 34-year-old former star of Nickleodeon show Drake & Josh pleaded guilty via Zoom to felony attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanour charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
The sentencing of Drake is scheduled to happen on July 12 in Cleveland.
Drake's defence attorney, Ian Friedman, said that he could not comment on the case and it will be revealed when Drake is sentence as to "why Mr. Bell chose to enter today's plea.”
According to Tyler Sinclair, a spokesperson for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, the girl in question contacted Toronto police in October 2018.
Authorities in the Canadian city then contacted Cleveland police who investigated the matter.
Drake initially pleaded not guilty to the charges before changing his plea on Wednesday.
Sinclair said that the attempted endangering children charge relates to the concert where Bell “violated his duty of care”.
He said that this created a risk of harm to the victim but didn’t elaborate any further.
He continued to say that Drake had “developed a relationship” online several years before the concert.
Sinclair confirmed that the disseminating harmful material charge concerns “inappropriate social media messages,” that Drake had sent to the girl.
The girl is now an adult and will be allowed to give a victim impact statement at the sentencing.
Drake is facing a sentencing range from probation to two years in prison.
Drake was a child actor who became a big star as a teenager when he joined Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show before being part of his own show, Drake & Josh.
This debuted on the children's channel in January 2004 and ran until its final episode in September 2007.
Drake also starred in two Drake & Josh movies with his co-star Josh Peck.
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